Now, I’m sure most of you make some sort of grocery list with things you NEED to buy…and then just kind of “wing-it” from there. I used to use this approach, but found I was spending WAY more then I wanted to on food (most of whichI would just throw out in a month). No good.

When we moved to WI, I completely revamped my take on grocery shopping. The key is simple: Plan your work, and work your plan.

We do grocery shopping on Saturdays, so on Thursday or Friday nights I sit down with a notepad and plan out a weeks worth of meals; including all the ingredients I’d need to buy for those meals and the weekly “staples” (milk, toilet paper, sweet tea vodka…you know, the essentials).

I don’t plan meals for Saturdays since I like to have at least one day off a week from cooking…it’s usually a cheese and crackers kind of night.

I then brainstorm 6 different dinner ideas based on what sounds tasty (and based on what I already have in my pantry or freezer). I have an incredibly hard time making the same thing 2 weeks in a row, so my list of meals varies every week.

When I go grocery shopping I like to be in and out of the store in 15 minutes (or less). I’ve found that any more time than that and I wind up with way too many “non-essential” impulse items in my cart; resulting in a SUPER high total at the register. Get in and get out!

Ok, here is a step by step look at how I go about planning our meals and making my shopping list:

I start with a blank “note” on my phone titled “Weekly Meals”. I then write out the days of the week (abbreviated) so I can visualize everything better. Next, I add my “shopping list” underneath the week’s meals, so everything is all in one place. **Please note the date of this screen shot is from July 25th. Yes, I’ve had this post in the back of my mind since July…It’s now mid-September! Wow! **

Next, I brainstorm ideas as to what I’d like to cook/eat during the week. I usually change my mind about 5 times before finally deciding on 6 meals. I should also mention that I almost always plan to serve leftovers on the nights when I have plans (like book club, Mom’s night out, etc). I’m pretty sure I had a Holistic Mom’s meeting that Thursday night. When this happens, I make sure that one meal will guarantee leftovers for another night.

Now comes the really fun part, making a list of all the ingredients I’ll need to buy on Saturday. I write down ingredients meal by meal, then I consolidate. For example, I needed peppers for both the Chicken Tortilla Soup and Arroz con Pollo. So I added a generic “Bell Pepper”; then clarified how many I’d need in parentheses. I also try to keep food “categories” together (ie: list all the produce together, meat together, canned good together, etc). That way I’m less likely to forget an item and I won’t have to walk all the way back to the opposite side of the grocery store to get said item. **Obviously I did not do this in the above list. I’m pretty sure I made this list AS we were in the car headed to the store…and I probably forgot at least 2 things. Learn from my mistakes.**

Now that you are more knowledgeable in the art of meal planning: go make that list, shop til you drop, save some money AND buy yourself something pretty while you’re at it. Maybe some new shoes…or a pie…or both! You deserve it!